Senate Confirms Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary

From Town & Country

Despite concerns from Democrats about Steven Mnuchin's role in the 2008 financial crisis, the Senate confirmed him as Treasury Secretary this morning in a 53 to 47 vote, nearly straight down party lines, with only Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia breaking rank to vote with the Republicans. Of all of Trump's Cabinet picks, Democrats considered him to be the "most troublesome," according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Now that he has been confirmed, here are some things to know about Mnuchin:

1. First of all, it's pronounced men-oo-chin.

As the below video points out, news anchors haven't quite figured out how to say it yet.

2. He's a Wall Street insider.

After graduating from Yale (where he was a publisher of the Yale Daily News, Mnuchin worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years, eventually rising to the rank of partner and earning himself a small fortune. He reportedly left Goldman to start a hedge fund. When nominating Mnuchin for the position, the President emphasized the role he will play in job creation. "Steve Mnuchin is a world-class financier, banker and businessman, and has played a key role in developing our plan to build a dynamic, booming economy that will create millions of jobs," he said in a statement.

But like many in the Trump administration, he has no experience in government, for better or for worse. "Over his business career, he was never particularly involved in politics, nor did he publicly express an interest in public policy," Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote in the New York Times. "He never ran a large organization or showed himself to be an accomplished economist."

3. Democrats are concerned about his role in the 2008 financial crisis.

As Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said, "Steven Mnuchin is the Forrest Gump of the financial crisis - he managed to participate in all the worst practices on Wall Street."

Pre-crisis, Mnuchin headed up the mortgage department at Goldman Sachs, and implemented new products like collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and credit default swaps (CDSs); these kind of products are what led to the financial crisis in 2008.

"He spent two decades at Goldman Sachs helping the bank peddle the same kind of mortgage products that blew up the economy and sucked down billions in taxpayer bailout money before he moved on to run a bank that was infamous for aggressively foreclosing on families," emphasized Warren.

Then, in 2009, Mnuchin put together a coalition of wealthy buyers to purchase failing California mortgage lender IndyMac, which he renamed OneWest.

Cosmopolitan reports that OneWest allegedly utilized shady business practices. "It reportedly tried to foreclose on a 90-year-old woman over a 27-cent payment error; it held back a large number of homeowners' insurance claims after Hurricane Sandy, according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo; and it faces accusations of refusing to issue mortgage loans to people of color and not locating bank branches in minority communities."

Mnuchin rejected the accusations in his hearing saying, "Since I was first nominated to serve as Treasury secretary, I have been maligned as taking advantage of others' hardships in order to earn a buck. Nothing could be further from the truth."

But Democrats still remain skeptical.

"The Treasury secretary ought to be somebody who works on behalf of all Americans, including those who are still waiting for the economic recovery to show up in their communities," Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Semate finance committee, said. "When I look at Mr. Mnuchin's background, it's a stretch to find evidence he'd be that kind of Treasury secretary."

4. He failed to disclose $100 million in assets on his initial committee ethics questionnaire.

Mnuchin said the oversight was "unintentional."

"As you all can appreciate, filling out these government forms is quite complicated," he said. "The paperwork … was quite a job."

Democrats considered the omission to be a disqualification for the position.

Mnuchin also defended his position as a director of an investment fund located in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven, during his hearing.

"I did not use a Cayman Island entity in any way to avoid taxes for myself. I paid U.S. taxes on all that income, so there was no benefit to me in the Cayman entity," he said. "They were merely an accommodation to pension funds and nonprofit institutions."

5. You can thank him for a few recent blockbusters.

He's a financier of high-profile movies, including last summer's Suicide Squad. He also founded a movie production company, responsible for American Sniper, Mad Max: Fury Road, and the X-Men franchise.

In fact, he'll be the first treasury secretary to have his name on U.S. currency and the credit sequence of the Entourage movie.

6. He cashed out on Madoff Ponzi profits.

His family withdrew $3.2 million in apparent profit from his late mother's account with Bernie Madoff. As the funds were retrieved before the Ponzi Scheme was uncovered, the Mnuchins were not required to return the money to victims.

7. He's promising to reduce taxes.

Mnuchin was apparently closely involved in developing Trump's tax platform, which may translate to as much as $6 trillion in tax reductions over the next decade, but may also contribute to much larger budget deficits.

"Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class," Mnuchin said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

8. His wedding might be on the White House Lawn.

Mnuchin is planning his nuptials with Scottish actress-producer Louise Linton. The couple celebrated their engagement with champagne and caviar in the Crystal Ballroom at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Linton's memoir, In Congo's Shadow: One girl's perilous journey to the heart of Africa, received controversial reviews. According to Quartz, Linton pulled the book off Amazon.

9. Mnuchin did business with Trump prior to the election.

It includes an investment in a Trump property in Waikiki, Hawaii, though others remain obscure.

10. He's not a die-hard Republican.

He and his ex-wife Heather Crosby donated to Democrats in the past, including Hillary Clinton in previous elections and Kamala Harris. His former business partner is also George Soros, the billionaire Democrat who has called Trump a "con artist and a would-be dictator."

11. He can get a family discount on some first-rate art.

Mnuchin's father is Robert Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner who currently owns his eponymous New York gallery-the space contains works by Kooning, Rothko, and Pollock.

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